Jed was carefully covering every inch of exposed wall with his little
shrewd, glinting eyes.

"Ain't much show ter work out o' yere, is thar, Cap?" he asked at last
reflectively; "leastwise I don't see none, 'less them thar dark corners
hes got holes in 'em."

"The wall is entirely solid."

"So I sorter reckoned. But if ye'll crawl through yere inter my
boodour, thar's a place whar I reckon ther tew of us tergether mought
make a try fer it. It's too durn high up fer me ter git at alone."

I rose to my feet slowly, wondering at the strange lassitude which made
me so indifferent to that life I had always before so highly valued.
Bungay noticed my hopelessness.

"Durned if prison life don't take all the sand out o' a feller," he
said cheerfully. "Blame me, but ye move as if ye wus 'bout half dead.
But I reckon, Cap, if ye cud manage ter git out o' yere ternight, an'
take some news ter Lee thet I've picked up, he'd 'bout make both of us
ginerals. 'Speed, Malise, speed! The dun deer's hide on fleeter foot
was never tied.'"

These words brought back to me in an instantaneous flash the old
dominant military spirit. For Lee! Yes, for Lee I would yet take
chances, undergo fatigue, brave death. If life must be given up, let it
be yielded gallantly in the open, and on behalf of my distant comrades.

"News for Lee?" I exclaimed, staring eagerly at him through the now